Clayton Richard had to wait through a day off in New York to get to his first start for the Padres, which didn’t go well at all. He now has to wait through another day off before starting the home opener at Petco Park on Tuesday.

This time, he won’t be without something to kill the extra time.

Richard was a pitcher and a quarterback at the University of Michigan, whose four-seed Wolverines play top-ranked Louisville for the NCAA men’s basketball championship Monday night in Atlanta.

“It’ll be fun to have an off day and get to watch the national championship at home,” said Richard. “It’s very rare that those type of things and a day off line up, so I’m excited about that to watch.”

Basketball was in a lull at Michigan when Richard was in Ann Arbor from 2003-05, and besides, Richard was go busy as a two-sport athlete to get to a lot of “M” games. He said he’s actually become more of a fan of Big Ten teams in general, since he lives near and works out at Purdue.

Richard had a rough first outing in New York, giving up three home runs. Asked how he needs to pitch differently on Tuesday, he smiled wryly.

“Pitch better,” said Richard. “It’s that simple. I just have to execute pitches, pitch better. No need to make it more complicated than that.”